§ Sir R. HAMILTONasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that the Bank of England at present declines to undertake to pay dividends to a bank for the credit of any particular account; that this practice entails inconvenience and risk upon trustees and individual stockholders in addition to the necessity of duplicating mandates both to the Bank of England and to the banks to which dividends are to be paid; and whether he will introduce legislation with a view to making the Bank of England in future undertake to pay dividends to a bank for the credit of particular accounts?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThis is a difficult question of banking practice involving complex technical considerations on which I have no special information, and on which I should be reluctant to express an opinion. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.